Are we missing the root ?

I just returned from National Permaculture Convergence in Hyderabad. It was a lovely event and clearly a milestone in non-chemical farming events. It saw several wonderful speakers from all over the nation from various disciplines. As I sat in the auditorium listening to amazing talks of various speakers, a thought kept crawling in my mind all the while.

Like any other similar forum, a lot was said about green revolution and it’s harmful affect, about chemicals, pesticides and their ill affect, about corporate conspiracy and insensitive government. A picture emerges in such gatherings, a world view is formed which looks like “the truth”. However, there was constant unrest in me saying – this is not it. There is something more to it. The story doesn’t end or start where we are ending or starting it. It goes deeper, it goes further.

I feel we are still not working at the roots of the problem. I feel that we still haven’t really understood the issues. I feel we are still caught up in the same turmoil with an illusion that “we are out of it”. It’s very difficult for me at this moment to really express what is the root and what’s the story further. However, this gut feeling is very strong that “this is not it”.

This is not just about farming but about many things. Say, education. We talk of the narrative how Britisher’s English education system destroyed our traditional education system (pretty much like modern farming destroying traditional systems). We can really analyze it very well, present a very strong and well sounding critique. However, that’s just one part of the picture. There are more parts to it for it to be truth. We must find it all before we label it “truth”, else we need to maintain our tentativeness in thought and action. If we have this agreement that we need to further understand the issues and we have more layers to uncover – we will end up doing it. However, can anyone help us if we assume that we know the truth, when we are far away from it ?